California-based Finisar has been awarded $78,920,250 in a patent infringement suit against DirecTV. The suit claimed that DirecTV used a satellite broadcasting system without a licensing arrangement.

The original figure requested in the suit, heard in U.S. District Court Judge Ron Clark’s courtroom at the federal courthouse in Beaumont, TX, was 1.65 billion, a figure that the company claimed represents 3 percent of DirecTV’s total revenue.

DirecTV claims to have been broadcasting 11 years before the system was patented by Finisar.
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